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A week after his party came out on top in national elections, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was formally tapped Wednesday to form Israel’s next government, his fourth since 1996. President Reuven Rivlin made the decision after meeting this week with members of more than a dozen political parties to hear them out. Factions representing a majority -- 67 lawmakers in the 120-seat parliament -- backed Netanyahu as the next prime minister. Israeli law does not oblige the president to assign the task of forming the government to the party that won the largest share of votes, in this case Netanyahu’s Likud. But Rivlin noted that "in a democracy, the majority decides, and...

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A week after his party came out on top in national elections, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was formally tapped Wednesday to form Israel’s next government, his fourth since 1996.
President Reuven Rivlin made the decision after meeting this week...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized Monday for comments that upset Arab citizens during parliamentary elections last week, but the mea culpa was rejected by community leaders who described Netanyahu's government as racist.
Netanyahu, who...

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin began consultations Sunday with representatives of the country's political parties as a prelude to naming the head of a new government, presumably incumbent Benjamin Netanyahu.
Although it is widely assumed that...

Almost seven months after the cease-fire that ended a devastating war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and the militant group Hamas, the fighting's ruinous effects are visible everywhere in this ragged coastal enclave.
Reconstruction efforts have...

From his first days in office, President Obama has been intent on creating some distance between the United States and Israel, because he viewed the closeness of the relationship as bad for American foreign policy. In 2009, during a meeting with Jewish...

Palestinians signaled on Wednesday that if a right-wing new government takes command in Israel, they will enlist the help of the international community in pursuing their statehood bid and pressing war-crimes action against Israel.
With nearly all the...

The White House on Wednesday pointedly criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's successful reelection campaign and suggested his newly declared opposition to a Palestinian state could jeopardize America’s unwavering support for Israel at the...

The last votes were counted Thursday in Israel’s election as political parties sent out feelers over joining Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s next government.
Starting Sunday, President Reuven Rivlin will begin a round of consultations with the...

How did the pollsters get it so wrong?
After Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confounded predictions he could go down to defeat and instead scored a solid election win, some of those who conducted the opinion polls sought Wednesday to explain...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, having secured a come-from-behind election victory for his conservative party, now faces an array of problems at home and abroad, some of them exacerbated by the ugly tone of the final days of the campaign.
Hours...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s chief opponent Isaac Herzog said Wednesday he had called the prime minister to congratulate him on his party’s electoral victory, but vowed his own party would continue to “fight…for the values we believe in.”
“This is...

It is beginning to seem likely that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be able to hold on to his office after Tuesday's bitterly contested national elections. Netanyahu's Likud bloc was solidly ahead of the coalition led by Isaac Herzog of the...

In a dizzying outcome to a divisive and angry Israeli election campaign, preliminary official results early Wednesday pointed to a sweeping victory for the party of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, paving the way for him to form a new government.
...

In 1996, a canny and polished politician named Benjamin Netanyahu stormed onto the electoral scene and became Israel's youngest prime minister. An articulate and commanding presence, fluent in English, twice wounded in combat, he became a political...

Israeli voters head to the polls Tuesday, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seeking a third consecutive term in office. Critics hope rival Isaac Herzog will end Netanyahu's six-year hawkish tenure and replace it with leadership more oriented to...

Four days before Israel’s general election, public opinion polls on Friday pointed to a widening lead for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s main rival.
However, the polls also suggested that about 15% of the electorate remained undecided, and Israeli...

Ayman Odeh was running late, as usual. But like the charismatic politician he is, Odeh lingered over handshakes and looked constituents meaningfully in the eye, sometimes placing his hand atop his own tousled head while he listened carefully to their...

In the final full week of a tightly contested election campaign, a peculiarly Israeli paradox is on clear display.
Polls show that a majority of voters are most passionate about socioeconomic conditions that color their daily lives — issues such as being...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s contentious address to Congress on Tuesday drew predictable criticism from campaign opponents at home and praise from those in his own political camp.
The prime minister, delivering his remarks in eloquent...